When it’s weekend, I just love to enjoy some comfort food. And one of my favorites: pizza! The traditional flammkuchen is topped with creme fraiche, bacon and onion. Since I wanted to eat a vegetarian pizza, I replaced the bacon with some ‘Oud’ Dutch Beemster Cheese. The Beemster Cheese is made in the ‘Beemster Polder’, which is World Heritage since the 17th century. The Polder is the first of attempt of the Dutch in order to reclaim agricultural grounds from the water. Due to the clay and fertile soil, the products made in the Beemster have a unique taste! The Beemster Cheese is made of milk, produced by cows grazing outside for at least 6 hours a day. The ‘Oud’ variety is matured for about 1 year, which gives this cheese an unique, strong and complex flavor.
For this recipe I used the ‘Flammkuchen’ dough from the supermarket. However, you can also use fresh pizza dough.
Flammkuchen Pizza, Dutch Beemster Cheese & Zucchini
Equipment
- Oven
- Vegetable Peeler
- Frying Pan
- Mortar
Ingredients
- 260 gram Flammkuchen Dough or fresh pizza dough
- 125 gram Creme Fraiche
- 100 gram Mozzarella
- ½ Zucchini
- 50 gram Arugula
- 2 tbsp Dutch Apple Syrup or Balsamic Glaze
Red Pesto Ingredients
- 200 gram Sundried Tomatoes
- 1/2 Chili Pepper
- 1 clove Garlic
- 60 gram Cashew Nuts
- 15 gram Fresh Basil
- 50 gram Beemster 'Oud' Cheese
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- Some Salt
- Some Pepper
Instructions
Preparations
- Preheat your oven on 230 degrees Celsius or 446 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use a vegetable peeler to create long thin strips of zucchini. Let's start on the pesto!
The Pesto
- Toast the cashew nuts in a frying pan until light brown. Chop the sundried tomatoes until fine.
- Add all the ingredients for the red pesto to the mortar (or food processor) and blend until you have the right consistency. Chunky, in this case, is also completely fine!
The Pizza
- Roll out the dough on a baking paper, placed on a baking tray. Use a spoon to spread the creme fraîche on the 'flammkuchen' dough. Add teaspoons of the fresh red pesto, and mix slightly with the creme fraîche. Top off with the thin strips of zucchini & pulled apart mozzarella.
- Fold the sides of the dough to create an edge. Ten you can use a brush to smear some olive oil on the edges.
- Bake the pizza for about 12-17 minutes in the preheated oven.
The Glaze
- In the meantime, you can dilute the Dutch Apple Syrup with 10 tbsp of water. Add this mixture to the frying pan, and bring it to a boil while stirring. Once thickened up and shiny, you can turn off the heat.
Finishing Touch
- Once the pizza is ready, it's time for the finishing touches. Divide some arugula on the pizza, pour on some glaze & finish with some extra 'Oud' Dutch Beemster Cheese! Enjoy!